


Timewarp

by uforock



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 06:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20385088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uforock/pseuds/uforock
Summary: [Set ambiguously between episode 10 and around the middle of season 2, it's up to you really]Gary gets eaten by a temporal worm and finds himself back onboard the Galaxy One with some familiar faces, before letting his feelings take the best of him.





	Timewarp

**Author's Note:**

> hiya!! this fic is inspired by some fanart by the amazing jadeyarts!! jadey if youre out there this ones for you :v:  
https://jadeyarts.tumblr.com/post/173368545554

When Gary faded back into consciousness, he wasn’t really sure what to expect. The infinite darkness of the void, maybe. The collapse of the universe. Getting eaten by a temporal worm was always a gamble with the gods, and the fact that Gary had already survived it twice was an extremely big stroke of luck, and he was sure that luck was bound to run out at any second.

He didn’t expect to see himself, leaning over him, checking his vitals and prodding at his cheek with a finger as if testing to make sure he were real.

His eye hurt like hell. Every time he moved it it was like getting stabbed, and when he opened it…

Nothing.

Great. Just another part of his body that stopped working. 

“Crap, I think he’s awake. Are you- are you up?”

The Gary that was looking down at him still had a prison uniform on. 

“Ugh, jeez… When am I?”

“I’m sorry- did you say  _ when _ ?”

“Yeah, I got swallowed by a temporal worm,” he groaned, clutching his head as he sat up. He pulled his shirt up to check for injuries, finding IV wires going into his arm and a pair of handcuffs were keeping it attached to the operating table. 

“And it just magically happened to spit you out right in front of our ship? The- the odds of that are-”

“Look, yeah, things just kinda work out for me- you. Us. Is Nightfall here yet? I need to borrow her ship to get back to my timeline.”

“Who the hell is Nightfall? That name is hot. Is that a friend of Avocato’s?”

Our Gary blanked, his face paling. “So- so you… don’t know who Nightfall is, but you  _ do _ know who Avocato is.”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Do you- have you… Have you found  _ her _ yet?”

He blinked. “I don’t understand. Who is  _ her _ ? What the hell are you talking about?”

No Quinn. No Nightfall. He was back further than he needed to be to get out of this safely.

“Crap. Is Mooncake safe?”

“Why do you know about Mooncake?”

“Because I’m  _ you  _ from the future! Now un-cuff me so I can figure out how to get ahold of Nightfall and get back to being  _ me _ from the  _ present _ !”

“How do I know you aren’t lying? Say something only the real me would know!”

“Uh… crap. You collected bugs as a kid. You’re in love with Quinn Airgone even though she hasn't spoken to you for  _ five years.  _ You keep a bunch of hand-written Back to the Future fanfiction featuring yourself as Marty McFly’s forbidden lover from the future under your mattress in your room. Not even HUE knows about it.”

Gary’s face went red and he flapped his arms, opening and closing his hands to cut Our Gary off. “Alright, cool, cool, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt. So you are the real me. We don’t need to, uh, go any further with that.”

“Cool, now uncuff me.” 

Gary nodded and pulled the key out of his glove, unlocking the handcuffs and stepping back. Our Gary flexed his arm, rubbing the red indents on his wrist from the cuff. “Thanks. Do I need the drip now, HUE?”

“ **Now that you are awake, if you are able to eat and drink on your own, you may remove the IV.** ”

“Sweet,” he said, removing the needle from his arm. He realized all at once how much he missed HUE as a ship AI, ever present, reliable, safe. It felt good to hear him like that again. “How long was I out that you had to tube feed me?”

“ **About four days, Gary.** ”

“Jeez. Well, I’ve had worse. Why can’t I see out of my left eye?”

“ **There had been a crack along the glass of your helmet from when the artificial gravity of the Galaxy-1 kicked in. A shard of glass had broken free and managed to deeply scratch the left side of your face, from just above your eyebrow to just below your cheekbone. We did what we can, but if you cannot see out of it by now, I’m afraid you might suffer permanent vision loss.** ”

”Crap! Well, that blows, but I guess this is the look to own now. No more vintage 3d movies for this guy... I’m assuming you locked KVN somewhere small and dark to keep him from being the worst?” Our Gary swung his legs over the side of the operating table, dizziness in his head clouding the vision in his good eye.

Gary barked out a laugh while Our Gary stretched and stood up, letting the blood flow through his body. “You- you get me, guy. Yeah, KVN is downstairs duct taped to the-”

“Wall underneath the storage closet, yeah.”

“Gary?”

Another voice came from beyond the door, one that made Our Gary’s blood run cold. 

“Why’d you uncuff him?”

Our Gary felt the metal railing he was holding onto give under the weight of his metal arm, crumpling like a piece of paper with a groaning sound. His throat got hot and his whole body felt warm.

“A-avocato…” 

“He’s good, he’s a version of me from the future. Hey, you alri-”

Our Gary stood up and walked slowly towards Avocato, almost in a trance. He hesitated, choking back a sob before letting his instincts take over as he grabbed Avocato by the front of his shirt and crashed their lips together, tears flowing down his cheeks.

Avocato froze, eyes wide open for a moment before relaxing into the kiss, Our Gary’s hands reaching around to pull him close, feel his heartbeat, feel his warmth against his body, run his hands through the coarse fur on the back of his neck.

“Uh…?” Gary spoke from the other side of the room.

All at once, he was shoved away with a sob, a gun pressed into his stomach as he was lifted up by the front of his jacket. 

“What. The.  _ Hell, _ ” Avocato hissed, fur ruffled, face clearly flushed as his ears pressed down against his head. Gary stood in the back of the room, between them, eyes wide, entire face red, fiddling with his gloves and biting down hard on his bottom lip. 

“Uh, yeah, I-I second that?”

Our Gary was catching his breath. His head was still spinning from the kiss, and he was struggling to stay standing up. “Sorry,” he choked out, wiping the tears from his face with his shoulder. “Sorry. Sorry. I just… Missed him. I missed you,” he breathed, looking up at Avocato through his tear-soaked eyelashes, trying not to cry harder. “I missed you so, so much, man. I’m  _ so  _ sorry,” and Avocato knew he was apologizing for something more than the kiss.

Avocato’s gaze shifted from anger to fear and he lowered Our Gary to the ground. 

“What… Happened to me? In your timeline?”

Our Gary just choked, laughing the saddest laugh either of them had ever heard. “It doesn’t matter. I… oh God, this is a lot. Gimme a minute. I wasn’t- I really am  _ not _ ready to do this. Can I just-”

He nervously reached out to touch Avocato’s arm, dragging his thumbs over his pulse point, feeling the life that flowed through him, recognizing that it was still there. He was alive. He was safe. He was  _ okay. _

“I’m sorry for freaking out it just… I feel like it’s been forever since I saw you. My Avocato, he… something- something… happened,” his tears began to flow freely again, “I couldn’t save him.”

“Oh,” Avocato frowned. He squeezed Our Gary’s hands, and Our Gary’s face lit up all at once.

“But- but we saved Little Cato! Oh, Little Cato! He’s so cool! God, that kid’s amazing! He taught himself to fly a V-X9 Light Runner like it was  _ nothing _ ! He’s the bravest, most incredible kid I’ve ever met,” Gary sobbed out through a loving smile, gripping Avocato’s shoulders for support. Avocato smiled with breathless pride, before a realization came to him.

“Wait, you… you saved him in your timeline?”

“Of course! We clasped, I wouldn’t give up on you that easy!”

Avocato smiled, honest and true, and it took all of Our Gary’s strength not to pull him close and kiss him again.

“You know where Lord Commander is keeping him?”

Our Gary nodded slowly at first, his hands going to cover his mouth.

“Lord Commander- he’s setting up a trap for you. He’s going to try and kill all of us, and he’s going to do…  _ something _ to Little Cato, I don’t know what, some kinda freaky possession crap? You can snap him out of it, but we have to be fast.”

“What’s happening?” Gary asked, clearly confused.

“Crap- you said I was out for  _ four days?” _

“Yeah?”

“ _ CRAP! _ You want proof I’m from the future? I’m about to make your day. Scratch that, I’m gonna make your last half a decade. HUE, do a run on any distress signals nearby. Look for a MAYDAY call.”

“ **I don’t see what that’s going to- oh. Seems there is a MAYDAY call nearby.** ”

“What are you waiting for, patch it in!”

HUE patched through the call, and Quinn’s voice rang out over the speakers.

“ _ MAYDAY MAYDAY, this is Quinn Airgone, a captain in the infinity guard! I’ve been investigating a gravitational disturbance which I now see is a breach in space! Many people are dead- and I’m about to join them unless-” _

The transmission cut off. Gary covered his mouth in shock, his heart nearly stopping.

“Oh, my crap.”

“Yeah, yeah it’s Quinn, don’t get your hopes up, get out there and save her!” Our Gary shoved him towards the airlock and he stumbled through, leaving Our Gary alone with Avocato.

Our Gary took a deep breath, letting it out slowly while Avocato stared at him, ears down against his head.

“...Why did you kiss me?”

Our Gary coughed as his cheeks went red, scratching the back of his head. “Oh, jeez, going right into it, o-kay. Uh. I… Because…” He swallowed nervously, noting that Avocato was simply glaring at him in complete silence. “Because I promised myself after my Avocato… died- after he died, that if I ever got the chance, I’d stop being a coward and kiss him already. And,” he breathed, squeezing down hard on his own arm, “I know you aren’t my Avocato, but… I dunno. I miss him.”

“... That’s rough. I can’t say I know how you feel, but… I feel for you, man.”

“Yeah. You might wanna go help your Gary out there, he’s about to get his heart broken into a million billion pieces. Quinn, the girl he’s been unable to shut the hell up about? She’s got no clue who he is, and she’s gonna make  _ sure  _ he knows it.”

Avocato looked  _ pissed _ at the idea of that, glaring off to the side. “Thanks. I’ll go take care of that, you go try to get ahold of your friend.”

“Cool.” 

“And, Gary?”

“Yeah?”

Avocato smirked. “No more kissing.”

Our Gary laughed breathlessly, trying to fight past the blush on his cheeks. “Well, it’s your choice, but who am I to stop you if you’ve decided you can’t get enough of the  _ Thunder Bandit _ ?”

Avocato just rolled his eyes, that smirk still on his face. “Well, you really are Gary,” he said as he left. 

Our Gary just basked in the warm, golden feeling flowing through his chest, watching Avocato walk out the door. He stepped towards the door frame to watch him go further down the hall, before he vanished from sight, taking the feeling with him, leaving Our Gary to lean back against the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. 

He just sat there, praying this wasn’t a dream, for a good few minutes. He needed to let the storm in his head calm down, so he relaxed until he heard his own voice yelling in absolute  _ agony _ down the hallway.

“HHG- she doesn’t even know who I  _ am _ -”

Our Gary couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer drama of it all, covering his mouth with one hand while Gary had a fit in the hallway. 

It was all so much. Maybe the exhaustion finally hit him, but the absurdity of it all was absolutely cracking him up. “Oh, god. HUE, c-contact Nightfall.”

“ **Gary, I’m afraid no such name exists in the archives.** ”

“Right- right… right. She only showed up after… Crap. Why did she show up in the first place?” 

He paced back and forth, flapping his arms in front of his chest to try and make his brain work faster.

Then something clicked.

“Oh.”

“Last time we got her to show up it was because… I almost died. So the solution is-”

“ **Gary.** ”

“If she thinks I’m gonna die again-”

“ **Gary, this is a bad idea.** ”

“She’ll come to my rescue!”

“ **I don’t know who this Nightfall person is, but I think you’re putting far too much faith in her.** ”

“Oh, I know who Nightfall is!”

Our Gary froze. He knew that wretched, annoying, grating voice.

“...And just how, pray tell, KVN, do you know that?”

“She shoved a usb up my butt when she was here earlier! She said something about ‘you will need this to save the Galaxy-1 someday’ and then told Mooncake not to let you die, it was really  _ weird _ .”

Our Gary blanked. “And- and you didn’t think… to tell me this  _ sooner? _ ”

“Well, I tried, but you kept whining about  _ ohh, boo hoo, my arm is goooone, woe is meeeee _ , so I didn’t bring it up again.”

There was the horrible sound of metal slamming full force against metal, and KVN was sent flying into another room to clatter against a wall. 

“That was kinda hot,” said Gary. He peeked around the doorframe, watching as a chunk of metal rolled across the floor. “You swear you’re not an evil clone of me?”

“I sure hope not, otherwise we’re both in trouble. You doin’ okay? I know I was real torn up about the whole…  _ Quinn _ thing.”

Gary sighed, rubbing his arms. “Yeah, I’ll… get over it. Can- can I ask you kind of a weird question?”

“Buddy, I’m  _ you _ , you can’t get any weirder than what’s in your own head,” Our Gary gave a lopsided smile.

“Yeah… Yeah. So, uh, why… did you kiss Avocato…?”

“Jeez,” Our Gary let his head drop into his hands. “What do you want me to say, man? What answer are you hoping to get that you can’t come up with yourself?”

Gary flinched back a bit, wringing his hands in front of his chest. “I- I dunno, just, humor me? Please? I don’t know if- did you and your Avocato-”

“Were we a couple? No. I didn’t even consider it an option because by the time I realized I loved him… it was too late anyway.”

Gary bit down on his knuckle. “Too- what do you mean  _ too late _ ?”

Our Gary took a slow, deep breath, placing his hands on Gary’s shoulders. 

“You have to protect them. I know, you would do anything for both of them, but really. You have to make sure the Lord Commander is dead before you leave that prison colony, do you understand?”

Gary nodded frantically. Our Gary gave his shoulders a squeeze and backed up, his seriousness vanishing in an instant. “Cool, well, I’m gonna go launch myself out the airlock and pray that Nightfall catches me. She’s been in contact with KVN in the last fewwww days or so, so she should be lurking pretty close by.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, you’re going to do WHAT?”

“Nightfall will catch me. She won’t let me die, don’t worry.”

“Who the hell is this Nightfall chick anyway?! Why do you trust her so much?”

Our Gary patted him on the back. “All in good time, my inexperienced friend. In the meantime, just… Remember what I said. Get Little Cato back. Don’t let anyone on the ship without checking for bombs. You’ve gotta be stricter than the TSA in New-New York.”

“Ugh, jeez. Okay, got it. And… About Avocato…?”

Our Gary sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you. Just… Let yourself love how you feel is natural. Don’t be stupid, alright? He loves you.”

They approached the airlock and Our Gary secured his helmet, thankful they had replaced the glass while he was passed out. 

“Oh, and one more thing? Beat the crap out of Clarence the next time you see him. Later!”

He shut the airlock behind himself, bracing for the horrible pull out into the darkness of space. Gary looked at him and touched the glass as Our Gary flew backwards towards the infinite abyss.

He stayed floating there, suspended in space, for what felt like an eternity. Minutes passed. A ship, seemingly out of nowhere, swooped in and scooped him up, before vanishing from sight again.

Gary looked at his reflection in the glass, smudged from the oil in his hands. 

A hand was placed on his shoulder, warm and solid. He glanced back to see Avocato looking out the window as well, exhaustion behind his eyes.

“Hey, Avocato, my man. Can I ask you something, between friends?”

“...Gary.”

“Avoc_a_to.”

He sighed, resigned. “What?”

“...So, how good of a kisser am I, just between bros?”

Avocato couldn't keep from laughing, covering Gary’s face with his hand.

“Hey- come on! It’s not often you get to ask that from someone you’ve never even kissed!”

“I’m not- it wasn’t even a real kiss! He caught me by surprise, that’s it.”

“I dunno, you looked pretty into it. You closed your eyes and  _ everything _ .”

“That’s not- you can’t judge a kiss by-  _ ugh. _ ”

“Come on, humor me!”

“What are you going for here? Is this some kind of new flirting tactic?”

Gary’s cheeks went a darker shade of red and he laughed, leaning his head against the cool glass. “N- that- that depends.”

“On what?”

“Is it working?”

Avocato smiled with a breathy laugh, gaze falling just below Gary’s eyes as he reached forward to cup Gary’s cheek. 

“You tell me, baby.”

And Gary took the chance to lean in, very slowly, making sure Avocato could pull away if he wanted.

But he didn’t, and their lips met. 

There was a long pause before they pulled away. Gary caught his breath, blushing redder than his prison uniform. “S-so how’d I do?”

Avocato made a thoughtful face, tilting his head. “Needs more data. Let’s try again and I’ll get back to you.”

And they did kiss again, and again, and again.

**Author's Note:**

> make sure to comment if you want more fics from me!! i do take requests if youve got anything in particular youd like to see!! thanks jadey for my life its an honor to be here


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